The present invention relates to a pager, and in particular, to a pager having a function to store information such as time of reception of a message and the number of received messages.
Heretofore, the pager (to be referred to as a receiver when necessary) of this kind has a function to save such information items called in the past as a date and a message. In accordance with the function, there is stored a quantity of information items beforehand determined for each pager such that a person operating the pager can confirm details of each stored items. Or, in a case in which the storage is full of data, when a message is additionally received, old messages are automatically deleted to store the new message.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication of PCT No. 58-501571 describes a technology in which when the last paging call to a pager is displayed, the number of calls received for the paging call is displayed for the user of the pager.
In addition, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-104032 describes a technology in which when the number of calls becomes greater, the graphic image displayed on an indicator for the user is accordingly changed so that the user of the pager recognizes the number of calls by checking the indicator.
However, the pager described above is attended with a problem that the number of received message cannot be displayed when the message storage capacity is exceeded. Namely, the message count can be confirmed only before the message storage becomes full of messages. In short, once the storage capacity is exceeded, it is impossible to confirm the number of messages accumulated in the storage. To cope with this disadvantage, it has been a common practice that when a message is received with the storage full of data, old messages are deleted to store the received message. This is unsatisfactory for the user because information of deleted messages is lost. For users of pagers receiving a accounting service in which each user is charged in accordance with the number of paging calls received.
In accordance with the pager described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication of PCT No. 58-501571, the number of calls is displayed for the user with respect to a paging call not confirmed, namely, the total number of messages is not displayed and hence it is impossible to solve the problem above.
In the pager of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-104032, as the number of calls increases, the display is changed in form on the indicator. However, it is impossible to confirm the number of messages received during a desired period of time, that is, the accumulated number of messages is displayed in any case. Consequently, for example, in an accounting system in which the user is charged in accordance with the number of calls per month, it is inconvenient for the user of the pager to manage the monthly charge of the pager.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a pager in which the illustrated image of the display is altered by comparing the actual number of messages received message with a predetermined number thereof and hence the accumulation of the received messages is facilitated and the accumulated number of messages received during a fixed period of time can be easily obtained, which helps the user of the pager to efficiently manage the charge of the pager.
More specifically, thanks to a count period setting unit to provide the number of messages received during a fixed period of time, the charge management can be more effectively carried out.
In accordance with the present invention, there is provided a pager including receiving means for receiving and decoding a radio signal including at least a paging signal and a message signal subsequent thereto, notifying means for conducting a calling operation at least when the radio signal matches with a paging number of the pager and notifying a message included in the message signal, control means for counting a number of radio signals received and identifying time of reception thereof, storage means for storing therein the counted number of received radio signals, an area of a display for displaying therein an illustrated image of the number stored in the storage means, changing means for changing the illustrated image in accordance with the number of received radio signals, and count period setting means for setting a period of time for the counting of the number of received radio signals.